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Young people in Lewes are to decide how to spend more than £5,000 to improve youth facilities and activities in the town.

Lewes Town Council is contributing £4,000 and East Sussex County Council a further £1,500 to the exciting new project.

The scheme, being led by the Town Council with support from the County Council is all part of a drive to involve young people in the community by giving them responsibility over the way a proportion of the Town Council's budget is spent.

To launch this exciting project, called Lewes Town YouthBank, the council wants to give a team of young people the keys to the Town Hall!

The young team is being given the task of coming up with their own ideas about the best way the money can be given out to as wide a range of young people and youth projects as possible in the town.

Cllr Roger Murray from Lewes Town Council said: “This is a really good way of building up social responsibility in our young generation and giving them a sense of mattering in the community.”

Cllr Nick Bennett, the County Council's Lead Member for Learning and School Effectiveness added: “YouthBank is all about getting young people involved in making real decisions and at a county level it has proved extremely successful previously. I am really pleased we're able to work with Lewes Town Council on this project and that they are so keen to get young people involved.”

A meeting of interested young people took place in the Town Hall in December and they have come up with the idea to launch a youth led grant-giving scheme later on in the year.

The group will meet on a regular basis to set the criteria, design the publicity and they hope to be ready to open the grant scheme by April.

The Lewes Town YouthBank group will then invite young people to apply for some of this money to improve the things to do in the Lewes town area. It will also be this group that make the decisions on who will receive a grant.

The next meeting of the YouthBank group takes place on Monday 27 February at 5pm in Lewes Town Hall. There are still places available. If young people (aged 11 to 19 or up to age 24 with a disability) want to join the young decision-makers there's still time.

Youth groups wishing to apply for a grant should register their interest so that they can be put on a mailing list. When the grants are ready they will be the first to know.

To find out more about this project contact: Tracey Johnson – phone: 01424 726086 or email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Further information

This town council initiative is being supported by East Sussex County Council's Targeted Youth Support Service as a way to help local areas develop new and innovative ways to involve young people in have an active and meaningful say over the things they have to do in the area.

Lewes Town Council voted to put aside £4,000 from the Town Council's budget with an additional £1,500 from ESCC to make a total of £5,500 available to young people.

The County Council is also providing a worker who will train young people to make fair decisions as well as being on hand to support young people to develop bids and to monitor the scheme.

The initial group of young people have been identified through presentations and workshops to Chailey School, Priory School, Ringmer CC, Landport Youth Centre and Sussex Downs Community College.

Ten young people attended the first meeting on 12 December and it's hoped that a team of around 15 to 20 young people will form the YouthBank panel. Young people wishing to be part of this initiative should contact Tracey Johnson (above) – all are welcome.

The new Bexhill to Hastings cycle and pedestrian link has been officially opened with a ribbon cutting ceremony and the unveiling of the three ‘portrait bench' figures of local heroes.

There was a fantastic turn out for the opening event on Tuesday 24 January including local cycle enthusiasts and the families of Tyrone Wildman and Richard ‘Boyley' Ball – two of the local heroes whose figures make up the portrait bench.

Kathleen Wildman, Tyrone Wildman's widow, and his children attended, as did Gill and Charlie Ball, Richard 'Boyley' Ball's parents, and his sister Donna Brampton. Kathleen Wildman and Donna Brampton gave particularly emotional tributes to their loved ones and the importance of the figures to them.

The event was also attended by representatives of the County Council, Rother District Council, Hastings Borough Council and Sustrans who have been working in partnership to deliver the new Bexhill to Hastings cycle and pedestrian link.

The ribbon cutting ceremony by Councillor Carl Maynard, Lead Cabinet Member for Economy Transport and Environment at ESCC, took place on the headland section with a panoramic view of the route. This was followed by speeches by Councillor Trevor Webb from Hastings Borough Council and Simon Pratt, Regional Director of Sustrans.

The new seafront path, which is 2.2km in length creates a traffic-free route that is more than 5km long by linking two existing traffic-free paths – Galley Hill in Bexhill and Hastings promenade.

Councillor Carl Maynard, Lead Cabinet Member for Economy, Transport and Environment, said: "This new path will really make a difference to people in Hastings and Bexhill by providing a safe alternative to the busy A259 and improving access to the coast and beach. I'm thrilled to declare the path open."

"It is another example of the comprehensive and integrated approach to transport solutions that the County Council has adopted for the area."

The path was built by Jackson Civil Engineering, who won the £360,000 contract following a competitive tender process. Work began in September 2011.

Further information

For more information on Sustrans or to request interviews, please contact Matt Hemsley, Sustrans Press Office – phone: 0117 915 0123 or email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

For pictures, please contact Sustrans Picture Library – phone: 0117 915 0120 or email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Press Office out of office hours – 07802 986728. ISDN line available for radio interviews

Sustrans is the charity that's enabling people to travel by foot, bike or public transport for more of the journeys we make every day. Our work makes it possible for people to choose healthier, cleaner and cheaper journeys, with better places and spaces to move through and live in. It's time we all began making smarter travel choices. Make your move and support Sustrans today. For more information visit the Sustrans website.

Sustrans' Connect2 is a UK-wide project that will transform local travel in communities, creating new bridges and crossings to overcome busy roads, rivers and railways, and linking these to networks of walking and cycling routes, making it easier for millions of people to walk and cycle for everyday journeys.

Sustrans' Connect2 won £50 million from the Big Lottery Fund's Living Landmarks: The People's Millions as a result of a public vote televised on ITV1 in December 2007. This is the largest ever single lottery grant. Combined with match funding, the project is worth £142 million.

The Big Lottery Fund, the largest of the National Lottery good cause distributors, has been rolling out grants to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK since its inception in June 2004. It was established by Parliament on 1 December 2006.

Big Lottery Fund Press Office – phone: 020 7211 1888. Out of hours – phone: 07867 500 572. Full details of Big Lottery Fund projects and grant awards are available on the Big Lottery Fund website.

Plans to expand and move Sidley Primary School to help cope with the rising birth rate in Bexhill have moved to the next stage.

East Sussex County Council has agreed to publish statutory notices to more than double the size of the school and to move it to a new site in Gunters Lane at the former Bexhill High School Year 7 building.

The decision was made by the council's Lead Member for Learning and School Effectiveness, Cllr Nick Bennett, at a meeting this week (on Tues 31 Jan) and follows a public consultation at the end of 2011.

At the meeting, Cllr Bennett was told that a total of 1,200 consultation documents were distributed between 21 November and 19 December and only a very small number of replies had been received. Of the 66 responses received views were mixed.

Of the small number who raised concerns the main issue, the meeting was told, was traffic and parking in Gunters Lane. These were legitimate concerns that would be considered as the details of the project were developed.

Cllr Bennett said: “The reality is we have to do something to create more school places in Bexhill. The projections show we will have a shortfall of school places in the town in the future and so it's really important we plan now and look to increase the spaces we have.

“Having issued 1,200 consultation documents I'm a little disappointed that only a very small number of people responded. I recognise some have raised concerns about traffic in Gunters Lane and those will be examined by the design team as we develop this project.”

The expansion of Sidley was part of the solution to the issue, he added, while a smaller expansion of St Mary Magdalene was also being discussed and considered.

Cllr Bennett said: “I'm really pleased these plans have the support of Sidley School and we have earmarked more than £1m to address the school place shortfall in Bexhill. We've worked with schools in the area to consider various options for school expansion and these are the proposals that make most sense.”

The need for extra school places was highlighted in a previous report to the Lead Member meeting. It indicated that across Bexhill birth rates have risen from 289 in 2004/05 to 368 in 2008/09, an increase of 27%. And while longer term forecasts are less certain it is expected that the demand for places in the future will potentially outstrip the number of available spaces.

The publication of statutory notices means a further four week period of formal consultation known as the representation period. A final decision on the proposals will be taken in April.

• Lead Member for Children's Services – meeting papers for 31 January 2012
• Sidley Community Primary School